News

Ice disrupts Hampshire train services

SOUTH West Trains is advising passengers to travel only if absolutely necessary as freezing weather has caused severe disruption to rail services across the South.

Ice has resulted in major delays to SWT services in and out of London Waterloo.

Trains through the Woking area are currently being delayed by up to two hours, while services between London Waterloo and Reading may be delayed by up to 90 minutes. Some services may also be cancelled or amended at short notice.

SWT has apologised to passengers and is advising travel only if absolutely necessary as the disruption is expected to last for most of the day.

Jake Kelly, customer service director for the South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance, said today: “In common with other transport operators in the area, we are experiencing severe disruption on our network as a result of freezing weather conditions this morning. Icy conditions are making it extremely difficult to operate our services and I am sorry to say that is resulting in lengthy delays for our customers.

“We would like to apologise to passengers for the inconvenience this will undoubtedly cause them. We have extra staff at our key stations to assist customers and provide information and we are keeping passengers on board our services updated as best we can by keeping in close contact with our train guards.

“Our engineers are working hard to clear ice from the tracks and we will continue to run as many services as possible for our customers throughout the remainder of the day. However, this will be a difficult day - as a result, we are advising passengers to travel only if necessary. Anyone who chooses to travel should check for service updates before leaving for the station.”
SWT Trains will be publishing compensation arrangements for customers shortly.